There are only fragments
“There is no complete life. There are only fragments. We are born to have nothing, to have it pour through our hands.” ― James Salter, Light Years
How to challenge your fear
“You must challenge fear and ask it what it means to say. As you go into the fear with eyes open, heart open and courage flowing freely, you will see that fear is only an empty room. Fear is only as strong as your avoidance of it. The greater your reluctance to see the fear, to accept it and embrace it, the more power you allow it.”
— Emmanuel's Book: A Manual for Living Comfortably in the Cosmos
How am I not myself? T-shirt
I designed a t-shirt dreamed out of a favorite movie of mine, I Heart Huckabees, and put it up on Society6.
I drew the chalkboard art depicting how everything is the same even if it’s different. See: The Blanket Truth — “We’re all connected.”
“How am I not myself?” is from the scene where Jude Law is confronted about the “mayo” story. A reminder that the repetitive stories you tell about yourself are propaganda.
Be a weird adult
“That thing that made you weird as a kid could make you great as an adult — if you don’t lose it.” — Kevin Kelly
A perfect question to wake up to:
So—what do you want? Not just today, or at this moment, but within the arc of your existence?
— Mitch Horowitz, The Miracle Habits
Be the ideal place
“I’ve been searching for years for the ideal place. And I’ve come to the realization that the only way to find it is to be it.” — Alan Watts
Old horoscope — what kind of woman to be
Be a woman who knows her own magic and in that self-awareness find a potent confidence with which to live.
— Old horoscope, 2003
Create dangerously
“To create today means to create dangerously. Every publication is a deliberate act, and that act makes us vulnerable to the passions of a century that forgives nothing.” —Albert Camus
High school wisdom
Here are scanned pages from my high school notebook where I collected what I considered to be sage advice and quotes.
A lot of these quotes, which now seem banal, really helped me survive the discomfort of high school and bullies and a broken heart.
Here are the quotes that still resonate with me twenty years later:
“Be tough in the way a blade of grass is: rooted, willing to lean, and at peace with what is around it.” — Natalie Goldberg
"Do you imagine the universe is agitated? Go into the desert at night and look at the stars. This practice should answer the question. The superior person settles her mind as the universe settles the stars in the sky. By connecting her mind with the subtle origin, she calms it. Once calmed, it naturally expands, and ultimately her mind becomes as vast and immeasurable as the night sky.” — Lao Tzu (apparently refuted)
“The greatest unexplored territory is the space between our ears.” — unknown (to me)
How to define your problems
To start defining your problems, say (out loud) “everything in my life is completely fine. Notice what objections arise.
— #53 on 100 Tips For A Better Life
Happiness is a skill and a choice
Our happiness is built by attitude and intention. Attitude is not everything, but it’s almost everything. I visited the jazz great Jane Jarvis when she was old, crippled and living in a tiny apartment with a window facing a brick wall. I asked if she was happy and she replied, “I have everything I need to be happy right between my ears.”
Follow your inner moonlight
“Follow your inner moonlight; don’t hide the madness. ”
Empty days
I always forget how important the empty days are, how important it may be sometimes not to expect to produce anything, even a few lines in a journal. … the most valuable thing we can do for the psyche, occasionally, is to let it rest, wander, live in the changing light of a room, not try to be or do anything. — May Sarton
“I always forget how important the empty days are, how important it may be sometimes not to expect to produce anything, even a few lines in a journal. … the most valuable thing we can do for the psyche, occasionally, is to let it rest, wander, live in the changing light of a room, not try to be or do anything.”
Do the duties that echo from deep below
To realize your existence, do the things you know you should do — the duties that echo from deep below. Stop avoiding your life.
Be a wholehearted creative
The wholehearted creative woman knows that art is not simply the work of her hands. Her truest artistic work is being fully herself in the presence of others. The book, the painting, the meal, the presentation are all simply evidence of a deeper art happening within the soul of the artist.
“Art is what happens when we dare to be who we really are. ”